Frequently Asked Questions

Is Christian rock/metal Biblical?

Yes, Christian rock and metal is new music (Psalm 33:3) praising and honoring God in various ways. Psalm 33:3 says to play skillfully and to shout for joy. Psalms 150:5-6 is clear that it can be loud and have repetitive (resounding) beats especially that of cymbals.

Often, people mistake praising God for simple soft sad quiet songs. There are other ways to praise the Lord by singing and playing in accordance with his many attributes examples are given throughout the Bible. People have often tried to claim that rock and metal sound angry, powerful, and hateful. I ask: Is God not powerful, get angry, and hate Evil?

God is powerful, God will judge sin as He did in the days of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah, God commands the wind – why not sing/play of His power and his judgment? I’m sure Grandpa Noah and his family wasn’t singing something like ‘All things Bright and Beautiful’ when the flood came to judge.

Believe it or not God does get angry (Deuteronomy 4:25; 7:4; Psalm 7:6; etc.) God gets jealous (Deuteronomy 6:15; Exodus 20:5); And yes, God hates… God hates what is evil (Proverbs 8:13; Zechariah 8:17; Romans 12:9).

Knowing this, we too should hate evil and get angry at evil, etc. Even Jesus did in the Temple – but be slow to anger as God is - Exodus 34:6; Nahum 1:3; and as man is commanded to not to give full vent to his anger (Proverbs 29:11). If we are to sing and play according to God’s attributes (God is perfect after all), then we need to honor God, by reflecting these things, in song. We are to sing of God’s justice. Psalms 101:1 says:

Of David. A psalm. I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing praise

This means singing loud, with a beat, a new song, about God’s love and about God’s justice. Psalm 6:1 allows for stringed instruments. Guitars, violins, bass guitars, etc. are all strings and in approval of God. Rock and metal are clearly the Lord’s and it’s time to stop letting Satan have it. It’s time to take it back and present it to the Lord and use it for the glory of God instead of the devil.

Please see: Christian Rock Apologetics

Why do you have to use that aweful distortion?

To many, distortion is simply some unnatural sound that someone plugs a guitar into just to annoy people who are not aware of it. Distortion, however, is anything but unatural. When it comes to amplifying a guitar there are two basic methods. The first amplifies the overall echo of the strings as a whole as they bounce around inside of a confined space (accoustic guitar). The next method is to amplify the strings themselves. This is usually done on a electric guitar. There are individual mics detecting each string and this sound is amplified.

Now, there are two ways to amplify a string. The first is by amplifying the overall tone or, the other, by amplifying all parts of the string to an equal volume. What is the difference between these? Remember, when a string is vibrating it stretches and loosens back and forth. In the very center of the vibratory motion is the overall tone of the string. This is the tone of the chord/note you are trying to play. This amplification sound like a clean channel electric guitar sound. The other sound is when the mics detect and amplify the whole string to detect the quieter parts of the amplified string. The sound that comes from the string when it reaches its max vibration and begins to go in the other direction. Normally, this is filtered out because it is quieter and is reduced due to the central tone. When the amplification gets to an overdrive, these sound are readily detected and are a natural part of the string's wave. So instead of hearing only part of the strings vibration you hear all of it. This is called overdrive or distortion because we are picking up the strings tone as it begins to overstretch or distort in tone. It is completely natural and it conveys more of the string and lets the player do more, especially with feel because we are not limiting any music...or emotion.

Why the hand symbols?

There are many things fans do when attending concerts. The one that seems to drive many Christians nuts are the 'demonic hand symbols'. Christians instantly see fast technical music as Satans music because one of the first things they see are hands raised in the air displaying the devil's symbol. Most kids raise their hands during the concert and couldn't tell you what they meant by it. There are two symbols that are readily used at metal concerts. One is the symbol of Satan and one is the symbol of Love. (Wait, isn't God Love??) Most Christians don't seem to notice the difference, by the way, most people in general don't even know the difference... even when they do it. The image below shows the difference:

Love Hand Motion

Devil Hand Motion

Be aware which you use and how you use it, I use the one for Love and I am proud of it. I Love metal and I Love God!

Why the long hair?

Read the full answer...

In the metal world, especially at concerts, there is an elegant manner of fully body dancing known as headbanging. (There are specific ways to dance to this and some require steps and they all require good form in order to look good while doing it - otherwise you will throw yourself off balance and look wierd). This style of dancing requires long hair to offset the momentum of the head thrusting forward (or side to side) to prevent the neck from snapping. It allows the momentum to be transferred to the body and hair and not to the neck area. The neck is where people can get hurt really bad if they don't have hair and try to headbang. So it is very useful for proper and safe technique.

Why does it have to be so loud?

This refers back to the first question. "It requires ample volume to get proper sustain on the guitar." [Glenn Tipton] Without the sustain, one is limited in what they can do and what fine tuned sound can be produced. Metal has never been known to have one overbearing instrument and the rest are background but instead they equate volumes so each member can induce feel. This need requires everyone to be at volume. Therefore, as the guitar gets proper volume for sustain, the rest of the instruments have to adjust to complete the lineup.

Why does it have to be so fast?

John Petrucci was once asked why he played so fast..he replied... "Because I can." Very few people are good enough to play technical - let alone technical and fast - if you can do it...DO IT. That's how you become great anyway - by doing what no one else can do... It is the difference between being a leader and a follower.